Say 'no' to California dreams, nightmares
Christy Clark's new cabinet would be crazy to say "yes" to Californiastyle cap and trade (often referred to as the "WCI market"). All four of the American states that originally joined British Columbia and California to develop a common carbon market - Washington, Oregon, Arizona and New Mexico - have withdrawn from WCI. They have done so because the market rules imposed by California [and accepted, to date, by B.C.] benefit only California, entirely at the expense of all energy, building product and food exporting states.
B.C. has the most to lose in this scheme, and should have been the first to withdraw. The Clark government still has time to make the right decision.
First, what is "cap and trade"? This is a quota-based supply management regime that works exactly the same way our existing dairy quota regime works except, of course, that the dairy quota system covers only milk, butterfat and cheese production and sales. California cap and trade covers all B.C. production and sales of energy, building products [cement, aluminum, wallboard] and food. In other words, 90 per cent of the economic activity in this province will fall under the quota system.
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